Voltage-modulated polymer nanopore field-effect transistor for multi-sized nanoparticle detection.

Solid-state nanopores offer a range of distinct advantages over biological nanopores, such as structural diversity and greater stability and durability; this makes them highly promising for high-resolution nanoparticle sensing. Biological nanopores can exhibit gating characteristics with stress-responsive switches and can demonstrate specificity toward particular molecules. Drawing inspiration from biological nanopores, this paper introduces a novel polymer nanopore with field-effect characteristics, leveraging a conductive polymer in its construction to showcase intriguing gating behavior. Notably, in this device, the polymer layer serves as the gate, enabling precise control over the source–drain current response inside and outside the pore by simply adjusting the gate voltage. This unique feature allows fine-tuning of the nanopore's sensitivity to nanoparticles of varying sizes and facilitates its operation in multiple modes. Experimental results reveal that the developed polymer nanopore field-effect transistor demonstrates remarkable selectivity in detecting nanoparticles of various sizes under different applied voltages. The proposed single device demonstrates the exceptional ability to detect multiple types of nanoparticle, showcasing its immense potential for a wide range of applications in biological-particle analysis and medical diagnostics. ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS: • Sub-100-nm nanopipettes were processed by glass-capillary pulling, electrodeposition, and electropolymerization. • The reduction in nanopore tip diameter due to polymer deposition improves the efficiency of the detection of nanoparticles with different sizes, materials, and electrical properties. • By modulating the bias applied to the polymer at the nanopore tip, flexible regulation of nanoparticle translocation events can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]